Mumbai: Protesters pelted stones at cars and held up traffic in the city for a while over the use of Lord Buddha’s image on a pamphlet advertising a sex pill, reports our special correspondent.

Supporters of the Republican Party of India organised a march in the city protesting against the pamphlets brought out by a Delhi-based pharmaceutical manufacturer.

Following the protests, police arrested the sales manager and the area sales manager of the branch office of the pharmaceutical company.

Deputy chief minister Chhagan Bhujbal ordered confiscation of all pamphlets issued by the company. Bhujbal wants the company to apologise to those offended for having hurt religious sentiments.

he protests began after Saturday’s edition of the Shiv Sena mouthpiece Saamna published the pamphlet on its front page. The advertisement said: “Good health is dependent upon balance in all respect of life,” while it carried a picture of Lord Buddha clad in a suit, obviously lending his approval to a sex-related Ayurvedic product.

The supporters of RPI, which has a sizeable Buddhist population among its followers, went on a rampage near Bandra station. They threw stones at passing cars and brought traffic to a stop for a short while, but no one was arrested.

TN unions call off strike

Chennai: Left with no choice after Friday’s Madras High Court judgment which declined to interfere in the dismissal of over 3 lakh government employees in Tamil Nadu, the confederation of major staff unions on Saturday decided to call off their 12-day strike, reports our special correspondent.

While some union representatives are considering filing an appeal against the high court order in the Supreme Court on Monday, major employees and teachers unions have decided against the move at a meeting held late on Saturday evening. The high court had said the aggrieved employees should approach the State Administrative Tribunal.

The unions, it is learnt, are planning on again approaching chief minister Jayalalithaa to revoke the en mass dismissal order. Following the high court directive, all the more than 2,000 employees who had been detained were released since Friday night.

Over 80 ill after wedding feast

Jajpur (PTI): About 85 people fell ill after eating a marriage feast in Jajpur district of Orissa this week, an official report said.

The function was held in Siha village on Tuesday night, it said. A medical team was despatched to the village, said additional district medical officer Kishore Charan Behera. All the affected people are out of danger, he added.

Answer paper scam

Mumbai (PTI): Bombay High Court has granted bail to suspended police constable Hukumsingh Bhatti, an accused in the multi-crore answer paper scam that had rocked the Maharashtra Public Service Commission. The court, however, refused to grant bail to another accused, Manisha Nichat, on the ground that she was prima facie involved in the scam. Bhatti is the first accused to be released on bail.

4 in bribe net

Nashik (PTI): Anti-corruption bureau sleuths have caught four Nashik Municipal Corporation employees red-handed for accepting a bribe of Rs 10,000 from a company to reduce the municipality’s octroi on goods transported to Nashik from Mumbai, the bureau said. The employees were caught following a complaint by a man who runs an industrial unit at Ambad, about 8 km from here.

Road crash kills 2

Hoshiarpur (PTI): Two persons, including a two-year-old girl, died on the spot when a Maruti car rammed into a bus at Jatpur, 8 km from here on the Hoshiarpur-Chandigarh road. Five passengers were wounded.

Power theft arrest

Vashi (PTI): Five persons have been arrested for allegedly stealing power worth over Rs 3 lakh from Vashi sub-division of Maharashtra State Electricity Board, police said.

Model death case

Mumbai (PTI): Two employees of a five-star hotel were arrested on the charge of causing the death of a model, by negligence, on June 15 here. The housekeeping executive of the hotel, Ida Mendonca, and room service boy Pundalik Lakas were arrested and later released on bail.

The Centre and the Madhya Pradesh government have drawn up a plan to develop the Bhimbetka rock shelters with paintings from the Mesolithic period. The site is on the Unesco’s World Heritage list.